Xenoblade 2's combat makes leaps over the first game's by removing the level gap limit and improving chain attacks. This is the end of the good things I have to say about Xenoblade 2.
To address the elephant-sized breasts in the room, Xenoblade 2 is heavily marred by its tone. The story? Filled to the brim with ecchi humor where it really just isn't appropriate or funny (the infamous Mythra bed scene being a top offender). The gameplay? Dictated by a system that might as well have come straight out of a gacha game so that you can have any sort of competent team for chain attacks. The art direction? I don't even care about visuals that much but god damn, can we please put more effort in than bouncing breastily? My favorite blade design was the book girl cause she was made of books. If we're going to drive home the connection between humans and blades as different species, it would be awesome if half the blades weren't just essentially humans.
With that out of the way, the rest of the game:
Xenoblade 2's story sucks, there's no other way to put it. Rex's goal gets sidelined time and time again for other plot threads that seem to take us in an infinitely recurring circle around the central plot. Xenoblade 1 started you off with a simple goal and expanded it as the story progressed. Xenoblade 2 starts you off with a vague goal (go to Elysium because it's probably good or something maybe) and doesn't manage to meaningfully expand on it for DOZENS of hours, and by the time it does, what is it that you even care about in the world?
This isn't to say the story doesn't have its bright spots, Zeke singlehandedly carries the game's funny bone, but these moments are few and far between.
In the end, you come to realize at some point that the game doesn't have a main villain, until you remember that it DOES, he just sucks dick because his motivations are AWFUL, and that his glorified sidekick would've made for a better final boss.
And on the gameplay, outside of the chain attack and level gap, there is much to be desired. I really don't have time to get into all the micromanaging and tedium that comes with the gameplay both in and out of combat, so I'll just summarize it as needing stutter-stepping and art-recharge meals to be any fun. I wouldn't even have gone out of my way to fight special monsters in the game had I not gotten Zenobia as a blade, who's affinity chart is progressed exclusively by fighting strong monsters, a luxury I desperately wish I could say about some of the other blades I was unfortunate enough to get.
To address the elephant-sized breasts in the room, Xenoblade 2 is heavily marred by its tone. The story? Filled to the brim with ecchi humor where it really just isn't appropriate or funny (the infamous Mythra bed scene being a top offender). The gameplay? Dictated by a system that might as well have come straight out of a gacha game so that you can have any sort of competent team for chain attacks. The art direction? I don't even care about visuals that much but god damn, can we please put more effort in than bouncing breastily? My favorite blade design was the book girl cause she was made of books. If we're going to drive home the connection between humans and blades as different species, it would be awesome if half the blades weren't just essentially humans.
With that out of the way, the rest of the game:
Xenoblade 2's story sucks, there's no other way to put it. Rex's goal gets sidelined time and time again for other plot threads that seem to take us in an infinitely recurring circle around the central plot. Xenoblade 1 started you off with a simple goal and expanded it as the story progressed. Xenoblade 2 starts you off with a vague goal (go to Elysium because it's probably good or something maybe) and doesn't manage to meaningfully expand on it for DOZENS of hours, and by the time it does, what is it that you even care about in the world?
This isn't to say the story doesn't have its bright spots, Zeke singlehandedly carries the game's funny bone, but these moments are few and far between.
In the end, you come to realize at some point that the game doesn't have a main villain, until you remember that it DOES, he just sucks dick because his motivations are AWFUL, and that his glorified sidekick would've made for a better final boss.
And on the gameplay, outside of the chain attack and level gap, there is much to be desired. I really don't have time to get into all the micromanaging and tedium that comes with the gameplay both in and out of combat, so I'll just summarize it as needing stutter-stepping and art-recharge meals to be any fun. I wouldn't even have gone out of my way to fight special monsters in the game had I not gotten Zenobia as a blade, who's affinity chart is progressed exclusively by fighting strong monsters, a luxury I desperately wish I could say about some of the other blades I was unfortunate enough to get.